Behavioural and Physiological Addiction

Behavioural Addiction

Behavioural addiction refers to a compulsion to continually engage in an activity or behaviour despite the negative impact on the person’s ability to remain mentally and/or physically healthy and functional in day-to-day life.
Activities such as gambling, eating, video gaming, or online browsing can lead to behavioural addictions, characterised by a noticeable inability to stop despite negative consequences.
Behavioural addiction and substance addiction share key characteristics, such as an escalation of involvement in the activity, tolerance, and symptoms of withdrawal when the behaviour is reduced or stopped.
Tolerance in behavioural addiction means a person needs to engage in the addictive behaviour more over time to get the same sense of reward or pleasure.
Withdrawal symptoms can be psychological; for example, feelings of irritability, restlessness, or anxiety when prevented from engaging in the addictive behaviour.

Physiological or physical addiction is when the body has become chemically dependent on a substance, leading to physiological changes and withdrawal symptoms when use of the substance is reduced or stopped.
The signs of physiological addiction can include: tolerance (needing more of the substance to achieve the same effect), withdrawal symptoms (e.g., shaking, sweating, nausea, insomnia when trying to quit or cut down), and persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use.
Physiological addiction is underlined by changes in neurobiology. Research suggests that addictive substances and behaviours can result in changes to areas of the brain involved in reward, motivation, and memory.
Emphasis is placed upon the role of the brain’s dopamine system in the development of addiction. Addictive substances stimulate release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with sensations of pleasure.
The brain adapts over time to the excessive dopamine release, leading to dependence on the substance for normal functioning, and withdrawal symptoms when the substance use is stopped.

Many behavioural addictions can have physiological components and vice versa, therefore it’s often difficult to separate the two completely.
Behaviours like eating, for instance, have physiological components but can also become addictive behaviours.
On the other hand, the use of drugs like nicotine and alcohol are largely physiological addictions but can also have behavioural aspects such as the situations in which people smoke or drink.